1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spindle bearing arrangement for a longitudinal seat adjusting gear. More specifically, the present invention relates to a housing that is able to be attached with an attaching device to a component on the side of a vehicle or a component of a vehicle seat, and whereby a spindle opening for guiding the spindle is guided along a spindle opening axis through the housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
DE 198 61 100 B4, describes a spindle and worm-gear drive for adjustment devices in motor vehicles. Therein is disclosed a spindle bearing arrangement for a longitudinal seat adjustment gear, which has a housing to admit a worm gear and a spindle. The housing is able to be attached with an attachment device on a rail of a seat frame. The housing has a spindle opening for guiding a spindle along a spindle opening axis through the housing. Within the housing, a spindle nut is placed, which is configured so as to be guided through the spindle. Thus, the spindle is inserted with positional preciseness and with no play into the spindle nut. The spindle is attached so as not to turn on a floor rail, with the rail securely connected with a floor plate of a vehicle. Such an arrangement permits the spindle to be adjusted along the housing.
FR 2 749 053 A1 describes a spindle bearing arrangement for a longitudinal seat adjustment gear with a housing which is on a floor rail and is securely attached by the floor rail with a floor plate of a vehicle. The housing has a spindle opening with an inner thread, whereby a spindle is led through the inner thread. The spindle is attached so as to rotate on a seat rail. By turning the spindle, the spindle, together with the seat rail, is shifted relative to the spatially fixed housing in the longitudinal direction of the spindle.
Unfortunately, none of the solutions has been able to appreciate what the inventors now recognize. What is clearly not appreciated by the related art is that when a vehicle is assembled, the rails often cannot be aligned exactly to each other on the floor plate. Also, the spindle is often mounted in one of the rails, either in fixed or rotatable fashion, with a tolerance. Especially when the floor rails are often screwed at a slant, the individual components are mostly not exactly aligned in their longitudinal direction. A further problem is that the spindle itself often is not fabricated to be entirely straight. The usual result is positioning errors of the individual components with a rail interval, which leads to the rail interval often changing by 4/10 to 5/10 mm when the housing runs along the spindle. In isolated cases, even considerably larger tolerances are provided. Owing to such manufacturing tolerances, a problem arises that a spindle drive is subject to a greater loading when the housing is shifted along the spindle in areas in which no exact alignment is present. In addition, such non-exact alignments lead to increased wear in the participating components.
Accordingly, the inventors now appreciate a heretofore unrecognized need for an improved spindle bearing arrangement for a longitudinal seat adjustment gear in such a way that the manufacturing tolerances of the spindle and the rails can be better equalized.